


A Dragon's Destiny

by DaniJayNel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F, Oneshot, Princess Historia, dragon Ymir, sunday prompt fic, yumikuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 09:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12129918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniJayNel/pseuds/DaniJayNel
Summary: Historia stumbles upon an injured dragon in the woods, and doesn't expect the pull she feels after she heals her, and they part ways.





	A Dragon's Destiny

Historia found her in a massive crater behind the Reiss castle. She’d ventured a little too far out with her horse, and since she rarely explored the forest on her own—her father insisting on the royal guard shadowing her every move—she got lost fairly easily without them, and this once she had managed to sneak away from captain Reber long enough to ride Misty peacefully on her own. But then she found the downed dragon, and the breath left her lungs the second she saw those massive, leathery wings wrapped around the dragon’s ash covered body.

The fables spoke of dragons as demons of the sky, the sort of monsters that did nothing but evil and violence. Yet knowing this, Historia was too in awe to gather her wits and run the other direction, like she should have. Like any sensible person would have. What she did instead was dismount, rub her horse gently on the nose and then walk over to the crater. Soil and trees had been upended, and any nearby grass had been burnt to a black crisp. Her footsteps crunched loudly in her ears, making her flinch each time, but she didn’t stop her trek. She nearly toppled over when climbing into the hole, and then slid easily down using the loose soil until she was so close to the dragon that she could hear its laboured breathing.

Nervous and curious, Historia rounded its body and stood by its back, where she was least likely to get eaten or burnt alive. She swallowed and simply stared. The dragon was really warm this up close, but it appeared distressed from the hurried heaving of its chest.

 _I should not be doing this,_ Historia chastised herself, but she couldn’t pull herself away. Here was a real life dragon, so close she could touch it. How could she turn around and pretend that she hadn’t seen it?

A hundred or so years ago, dragons had been hunted into near extinction. With magic rising quickly in the kingdom, it was easy for the knights and hunters to purchase enchanted spears and arrows that could destroy a dragon. It became a sort of sport, for people to go to Dragon Point, a collection of high mountains, and kill some dragons. The bigger the head, the higher the fame. At some point people even started putting bounties on dragons, and so it just became a craze. Now people hardly ever saw real dragons. Dragon skeletons were far more common than the live, breathing creatures.

As daughter of the king, Historia should have rushed back to the castle to alert someone that a dragon still lived, and that it had crashed so close by. But something deep in her gut kept her rooted in place. She stepped ever closer, enough that she reached out and gently placed her hands upon the dragon’s skin. It was much warmer than expected, but very rough to the touch, like caressing the bark of a tree. Still, Historia ran her hands over the dragon’s scaly skin, eyes wide. She dared a step closer, pausing suddenly when she heard a loud squelch underneath her feet. She glanced down and noticed a thick, dark liquid seeping into the soil towards her.

_Blood._

The dragon must have been seriously wounded, and from the look of the crater around it, it must have been laying here for a while. Worry crept up Historia’s spine that this magnificent creature would perish. She didn’t want this dragon to die. It had done nothing to her, and as far as she knew, not to anyone else. There was a big part of her that didn’t believe the stories of the old days.

Dragons were natural creatures. They were once part of the animal kingdom. Yes, they had been atop the food chain, even higher than humans, but was that cause to completely decimate their kind? In Historia’s opinion, no.

So she nervously rounded the dragon to where its two wings wrapped together, and struggled to pull one away. She needed to see the main wound if she had any hope of helping the creature, so she pushed her fear away and ignored the jumping of her pulse every time the dragon exhaled a little too harshly.

The dragon was absolutely massive. The size of it alone was enough to reduce Historia to terrified shivers, but she was determined to do this. Surely when it woke, it wouldn’t immediately eat her. There were some old fables that said dragons had human intelligence.

So with a breath to steady her nerves, Historia crawled between the dragon’s wings and found the huge, festering wound. It looked like a huge slash across the dragon’s chest, seeping thick, putrid blood. She gagged softly and covered her nose with her hands. She took a breath, steeled her nerves, and then scrawled closer to touch the wound. At the contact the dragon released a soft growl of pain, but otherwise remained asleep. She went to work then.

Magic wasn’t easy to use. Some people had no ability for it at all, but Historia was lucky to have Reiss blood in her veins. Not only was she of the Eldian bloodline, but the Reiss family were specifically close to the original Eldian family of old. She had powerful blood in her veins, even with it so diluted. Historia wasn’t the best at magic, not like her siblings, but she was good enough that the healing took effect. With a creature so huge and so near death, it took a lot out of her to simply stop the bleeding, but she managed it.

When the thick blood stopped dribbling out of the wound, the dragon’s breath came out a little softer. Its body seemed to relax slightly, even though it wasn’t out of danger yet. Historia pushed herself harder. She closed her eyes, bit down on her lip and focused all of her might on knitting together the severed flesh. She imagined the pieces of skin simply moulding back together, all the damage fixing itself, and very slowly the wound began to shrink. But she couldn’t heal it completely.

The dragon woke.

Historia realized the dragon was waking when its wings unfurled and thumped to the ground. Giant, clawed paws dug into the ground, and the dragon released heavy, panicked breaths. She scrambled off of the dragon and out of the crater as quickly as she could, and when she turned her blood froze in her veins.

The dragon was fully awake now, and it was staring directly at her. She could see its nostrils flaring, and slowly its lips peeled back over sharp, wet teeth. But it didn’t attack. It slowly rose onto its legs, wings lifting and stretching in the air. The shadow from its massive form bathed Historia in absolute darkness. She stood there, dumbstruck by the magnificence of this beautiful creature. The dragon continued to stare at her, its glowing golden eyes studying every inch of her with intelligence that far surpassed her own.

“H-hi there,” Historia tried speaking, but her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. “I mean you no harm!” she added. “I stumbled upon you, injured, and I used healing magic to heal the wound. It’s not fully healed though, so you should be careful.”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. It stepped forward, claws sinking easily into the hard soil, like wading through water. Historia stumbled back in fright when the dragon was suddenly right in front of her, those eyes right by her face, its hot breath bathing her like steam. She fell onto her backside and stared at it, scared.

 _Was this a mistake?_ she wondered in fear.

The dragon didn’t do anything else. It stared at her as it got a better grip on the ground and fully pulled its body out of the crater. It looked around the area, as if suspicious, and then it looked back at Historia with intent. For a crazy second Historia thought it would speak, but then its eyes rolled back and the dragon swayed to the side, released a soft wine, and collapsed to the side. The wound was bleeding again. Before Historia could rush to its side to stop the bleeding, a bellow of steam knocked her back.

She covered her face and cried out in surprise. The steam was hot and uncomfortable, but it dissipated quickly. When she could see again, Historia noted with unease that the dragon was gone. It was so huge that it took up a lot of space, so there was no way it could hide anywhere. She thought it had maybe flown away, until she noticed a figure in the centre of the miniscule steam, and her head tilted in confusion.

On the ground was a naked woman.

Historia approached her cautiously. There was no doubt that this woman was exactly where the dragon had been, but Historia’s mind still tried to logically explain this situation. When she was close enough she noticed the same wound on the woman’s torso, and her heart started to race.

_The dragon is… a woman?_

She dropped down on her knees beside the woman and gently rolled her onto her back. Historia ignored her bare breasts and instead studied the deep wound. It ran from her hip, across her ribs to between her breasts, and it looked severe. The woman was out cold, so the pain must have been terrible. Historia ignored her better sense yet again, and instead lifted the woman’s head to rest on her lap. She pressed her hands against the woman’s stomach and closed her eyes to work her healing magic.

Sometimes, when she used her magic too much, it felt like she was drunk or hadn’t eaten for too many days. It took a lot out of her, and usually it took a few days rest to recover afterwards, but she pushed on. With the dragon being in this smaller form, the wound healed a lot quicker. There was less tissue to knit back together. Historia wasn’t sure how much time had passed by the time she let her magic fizzle out, happy with the remaining scar on the woman’s torso, instead of the gaping wound.

She took a heavy, shaky breath and let her hands drop to her sides. When she opened her eyes again, the woman was staring intently up at her. Her eyes were a shifting, molten gold, often changing suddenly between gold, red and brown. Her eyes were a bit frightening, with their slit pupils, but in the same breath they were beautiful. Historia nearly choked on her tongue and her heart started to hammer.

“Hi,” she squeaked out.

The woman furrowed her brows. “You saved me,” she stated simply.

Her voice was not what Historia was expecting. It was soft, but rough from disuse. She had a touch of an accent that made her pronunciation sharper, but she clearly spoke the common language often. She sounded like a normal person.

“I did,” Historia confirmed. “I’m sorry that you ended up in this situation.”

The woman didn’t look away from her face. It was greatly annoying. The power of her gaze held magic in it, persuasion magic, but Historia didn’t feel like she was being manipulated. It was like a dragon simply had literal magical eyes. “Why?”

Historia nervously pulled her hands closer to her body. “Why not?”

The dragon lady didn’t answer. She tried to sit up then, but toppled over and groaned. Historia wrapped an arm around her shoulders to steady her, and gently pressed a hand to her huge scar. “It’s still very tender, so please be careful.”

The dragon groaned. “I won’t thank you,” she growled angrily. “I owe you nothing.”

“It’s okay. I don’t expect anything from you.”

The woman started to stand, so Historia helped her, relieved when it was accepted. Once they were standing, she realized that this woman was really tall, much more than her. She gulped softly when the woman looked down at her in surprise.

“Humans are so small,” she remarked with a sigh, as though this was a regular problem for her. “It would be wise for you to leave. I could hurt you.”

Historia studied her face this time. She had freckles along her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. They were surprisingly adorable on her otherwise stony face. Historia felt warmth gather in her chest, a feeling as though she knew this person, somehow. She shook her head. “If you wanted to hurt me, you would have done so already.”

“How do you know that?”

“I feel it. In my gut.”

She snorted. “You’re trusting that I won’t hurt you because your gut says so?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know if you’re brave or stupid.”

The words stung a little, but Historia could understand them. She gently pulled away from the woman and gestured to her horse, who had obediently waited close by the whole time. “I suppose I should leave then. Will you be alright from here on?”

“My wellbeing is none of your concern,” she growled. “Now go.”

Historia didn’t want to. She wanted to stay by this woman’s side and ask her a mountain of questions, but her eyes were starting to glow deeper and they were a bit too intense to look into, and so Historia took a few steps away from her and sent her one more glance. Exhaustion immediately swept up over her and suddenly she was staring up at the sky. Her eyes felt heavy and her chest hurt—a direct result from using so much magic that she had tapped into her life force. Her consciousness wavered into darkness, but she was alert enough to feel arms curl underneath her body and lift her. She was pressed against warmth, she heard an annoyed sigh against her ear, and then she allowed the darkness to envelope her.

XxX

When Historia woke, the first thing she realized was that she felt incredibly warm, but it wasn’t overwhelming. It was also beyond the physical. As hot as she felt on the outside, she also felt like the heat came from within, coiling through her veins and heating up every cell in her body. She cracked her eyes open and stared up at the unfamiliar stars.

“Ah, you’re awake.”

The voice was right against her ear, and it startled her. She tried to struggle, but she realized there were arms wrapped around her body, and with that she realized that she was also naked.

“Relax,” the voice said again. “I’m not done.”

Historia forced herself to calm down. The fog on her brain continued to clear and she remembered the dragon, the crater, the woman. She exhaled softly, but her body began to shake. “What are you doing?” she nervously asked.

Against her, the woman was naked too. The softness of her breasts pressed into Historia’s back.

There was a soft sigh. “Sharing my life force with you,” the dragon answered. “You needed it.”

Historia tried to stay very still. “You helped me?”

“Not because I owe you or anything.”

She found herself giggling. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“What?”

“That I’m naked cuddling with a dragon. A dragon lady. This is a bit wild.”

The woman snorted. “I’m not ‘dragon lady’. You can call me Ymir. I’m sorry for being an asshole earlier. Dragons don’t like humans very much.”

Historia shifted a little. Ymir’s arms loosened and allowed her to sit up, but Ymir sat up with her, still forcing them to sit very close together. “I can understand that. We hunted you.”

“You did.”

It wasn’t an accusation, or said with anger. It was a fact. Historia felt ashamed then. She turned around on Ymir’s lap, hardly embarrassed with her nudity. Ymir didn’t seem bothered by it either. “Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t like the rest of them?”

Ymir’s eyes narrowed slightly. The gold in them was a little muted, not as intense as earlier, but they were still incredibly mesmerizing to stare into. Ymir’s skin glowed unnaturally as well, like her whole being was a source of light and energy. “Well, you did save my life. I suppose you’re not as bloodthirsty as your kin.”

Historia sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

They fell silent. Historia knew that she needed to head back to the castle. She had been gone all day, and no doubt her father would panic the whole kingdom to find her. She really didn’t want to leave the warmth of Ymir’s presence, but she had to. She told Ymir as much, but Ymir didn’t seem surprised. They stood together slowly, Historia looking away from Ymir’s nakedness, and then Ymir bid her farewell and walked over to the cliff edge. She sent Historia one last glance, her gold eyes bright and swirling, and then she shifted in a burst of steam and a massive dragon soared into the sky.

Historia stared after her, chest aching. She felt like a part of her had left with Ymir, even though that made no sense at all. She dressed herself, mounted Misty and started the long ride home, hoping she could find it. Eventually she did.

Captain Reber met her at the castle gates, her face filled with worry. She didn’t say anything yet and instead ushered Historia inside. The heavy footsteps of their horses was the only sound at first, but eventually she spoke.

“Your father is distraught,” Captain Reber stated.

“I know, Nanaba. I’m sorry.”

Nanaba sighed. “You don’t need to apologize to me, my lady.”

“You can just call me Historia.”

“As you wish, Historia.”

She sighed to herself. It would be a long night.

XxX

Historia walked happily through the crowded street. People smiled and greeted her, and many moved aside to give her and her royal guard enough space to walk. She hated the special treatment, but it came with the territory.

“Are you sure about this, my lady?” Nanaba asked her, bending down to softly whisper in her ear. “His Majesty won’t be pleased that you’ve left the castle.”

Historia accepted an apple from a cart and handed the man a full gold coin. He touched her hand in thanks, smiling brightly. “Relax, Nanaba. I can’t stay cooped up in that castle another day. My father thinks he can protect me from the world, but I’m not a child.”

“Be that as it may, it is still not safe, my lady.”

“The world would wish you harm, my lady,” another guard, Reiner Braun added. “It is safer within the castle walls.”

Historia sighed. “No. I need to walk, and so I shall.”

They didn’t look too pleased, but Historia knew they also didn’t want to upset her. She was always nice to them, much nicer than her siblings were. They respected her because she respected them. What harm would a quick walk do? Historia was sick and tired of her bedroom, of the castle. She needed to live, she needed excitement.

She also hadn’t seen Ymir in the full month since she had found her dying in the woods. There was a very large part of her that longed to see Ymir again, and felt an invisible pull towards somewhere. She knew that Ymir was well, that she was out in the world somewhere, existing. It almost hurt to be without her. All of these feelings were confusing, but Historia knew that above all else, she just needed to see Ymir again.

All of her research on dragons produced zero results. Any and all records remaining only detailed them as monsters, but she knew that to be untrue. Nanaba was concerned by her obsession with dragons, and somehow even her father knew about it. Historia ignored all of them. She knew that none of it was true now. Dragons were people. They had thoughts and feelings and probably families, and it wasn’t right to hunt them down.

They walked deeper into the market. Historia’s head was starting to throb with pain, and a slithering heat filled her chest. Something insistent started tugging at her, so she looked around for any way to escape. She managed to dodge into a tiny alleyway, one that her guards couldn’t fit in, and poured out on the other side. Nanaba was yelling for her, and she suspected the others were already running around the building, so she followed her gut and started running.

Her blood was pumping in her veins and her breaths came out in great puffs. She wasn’t accustomed to running this much, but it felt invigorating. She had successfully lost her guard.

Historia paused at the edge of the market, heaving and sucking in fresh breaths. Her cheeks felt warm from the exertion. A sudden jolt of something made her straighten, and then she realized that someone was standing very close right by her side. Her heart lurched. She whirled around, prepared to scream, but her voice died in her throat and golden eyes made her toes tingle.

Ymir’s smirk was enticing. “Hello there, little princess,” she greeted lowly. “Out for a stroll?”

Historia’s mouth was completely dry. For a second she just stood there, staring dumbly at Ymir’s hooded form. Then she raced forward and collapsed against Ymir, hugging her fiercely. Ymir’s eyes flew open in surprise. “Ymir!” she cried out.

“Is it really proper for the princess of the kingdom to hug someone like me?”

“I don’t care! I thought I’d never see you again.”

She pulled away, sniffling. Ymir was smiling down at her. Slowly and gently, Ymir caressed the side of her face, catching a single tear. The look in Ymir’s golden eyes softened. “I thought so too,” she admitted softly. “But I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I’ve decided I want to kidnap you.”

Historia laughed, thinking Ymir was joking, but the seriousness on her face didn’t melt away. Historia stopped laughing. “Really?”

“Really. I want to know you.”

Historia’s mind raced. Her, being taken away by a dragon? “Do you have somewhere in mind to take me?”

“I have a place. Somewhere safe. No one would bother us.”

Historia nibbled on her lip. “And what would we do?”

Ymir’s lips turned up in a rakish grin, one that made Historia’s cheeks burn. She knew exactly what Ymir was thinking, and it shocked her when heat travelled downwards and she felt simple eagerness at the mere suggestion. But Ymir never spoke it. She merely shrugged. “Whatever your highness wants.”

“Don’t call me that. Just Historia.”

“Okay then, Historia,” Ymir said, as if trying her name out. She appeared to like how it sounded. “Will you let this mean dragon abduct you?”

It was such an absurd thing. But Historia wanted to know more about dragons, about Ymir. Her blood warmed and her heart told her to do it.

“Historia!” Nanaba yelled in the distance.

Historia jolted. “My guard! We need to run.” She turned and prepared to, but Ymir tugged her backwards and lifted her up into her arms. Her grin revealed long, sharp fangs.

“Why run when I can fly?”

Before Historia could ask her to clarify, two large wings sprouted from her back, and then they were souring through the sky. Historia wrapped her arms tightly around Ymir’s neck, frightened of the height, but confident that Ymir wouldn’t drop her. They flew silently for a while, and then Historia pulled Ymir tighter against her, and smiled.

“Okay, I think I’d like to get to know you too. Will you answer any questions I have?”

Ymir’s lips pressed to her forehead. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

They still didn’t know each other, and everything about this was crazy, but Historia’s heart felt at home there in Ymir’s arms. She should have been scared. She should have been worried.

But all she could feel was that somehow, Ymir was her destiny.

**Author's Note:**

> sub this fic because I might continue with it


End file.
